THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (AP) — Robert Woods is ready to rejoin the Los Angeles Rams' playoff push.
The veteran receiver plans to return from a three-game absence when the Rams (9-4) visit the Seattle Seahawks (8-5) on Sunday in a game likely to decide the eventual winner of the NFC West.
Woods has been sidelined by a shoulder injury since getting hurt in a loss to Minnesota on Nov. 19. The USC product was the Rams' leading receiver at the time with 47 catches for 703 yards.
"I feel like the movement and everything is there," Woods said Wednesday. "Everything is good and ready, so I feel like I'm trusting it. I'm very confident in it.

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — A day ahead of a vote by the Federal Communications Commission on a plan to undo the country's net-neutrality rules, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said Wednesday that he and other state leaders will take steps to protect consumers regardless of the outcome.
At issue is Thursday's planned vote on the plan put forth by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai last month to gut the Obama-era rules that meant to prevent broadband companies such as Comcast, AT&T and Verizon from exercising more control over what people watch and see on the internet.

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — Northern Arizona has hired Washington State deputy director of athletics Mike Marlow as its next athletic director.
Marlow's hiring, announced on Wednesday, must be approved by the Arizona Board of Regents. He expected to begin working at NAU in mid-January.
He replaces Lisa Campos, who left to become the athletic director at UTSA.
Marlow has spent the past seven years directing Washington State's athletic fund, marketing, ticketing operations and communications. He previously spent more than 12 years as senior athletic director at Oregon.
Marlow previously worked at Idaho and Montana after graduating from Washington State.

RENTON, Wash. (AP) — The good news for the Seattle Seahawks is that no one on their defense was suspended for the chaos that ensued at the conclusion of their trip to Jacksonville.
They still could be significantly undermanned heading into the most important game of the regular season to date.
The Seahawks might be down as many as five starters on defense from the start of the season going into Sunday's NFC West showdown with the first-place Los Angeles Rams. Seattle has learned how to play without defensive end Cliff Avril, cornerback Richard Sherman and safety Kam Chancellor as all three have been out for more than a month.
But last Sunday's loss at Jacksonville cost the Seahawks two of the more important remaining pieces.

CHICAGO (AP) — The U.S. Soccer Federation says it received the required three letters of nomination for eight candidates in its presidential election, one fewer than the total of people who announced their intention to run.
The USSF is conducting background checks on the candidates whose nominations were received by Tuesday night's deadline. The governing body said the check is to ascertain that a candidate has "no conviction or no contest plea to a felony or crime of moral turpitude" and it will announce the candidate slate after completing the process.
Sunil Gulati, the USSF president since 2006, decided after the Americans failed to qualify for the World Cup that he will not seek a fourth four-year term.

BELLINGHAM, Wash. (AP) — Authorities have arrested a man in connection with the rape and murder of a teenager near Bellingham nearly 30 years ago.
Whatcom County Sheriff Bill Elfo said DNA evidence led to the arrest of 50-year-old Timothy Bass of Everson on Tuesday, The Bellingham Herald reported .
Sheriff's detectives arrested Bass on suspicion of murder, kidnapping and rape. He was expected to appear in court Wednesday afternoon.
Bass has a lawyer but officials did not immediately know his name and the lawyer and suspect were unavailable for comment because the court hearing was about to start, said sheriff's spokesman Jeff Parks.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Skid Row area of downtown Los Angeles is home to thousands of chronically homeless people.
Each one has a different story about how they ended up in this center of abject poverty, where drugs rule the streets night and day.
"It's miserable quitting, or trying — trying anything," 33-year-old Andrew Hudson said recently while using heroin on Skid Row.
America's homeless population increased this year for the first time since 2010, driven by a surge in the number of people living on the streets in Los Angeles and other West Coast cities.
According to the latest nationwide count, four of every 10 people who are homeless in the U.S. have a serious drug addiction or are severely mentally ill.

PORT ORCHARD, Wash. (AP) — Washington state regulators have fined Cooke Aquaculture $8,000 for water quality violations at its farmed salmon operations off Bainbridge Island.
The violations are unrelated to the company's Cypress Island net pens, which collapsed in August and released tens of thousands of non-native Atlantic salmon into Puget Sound. The state is currently investigating that collapse.
The Department of Ecology on Wednesday said Cooke repeatedly cleaned dirty equipment and sent polluted wastewater into Puget Sound in Rich Passage. It penalized the company for pressure washing equipment over the water, changing boat engine oil over the water and other practices.

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — All four members of a Polish death metal band have been released from jail as they await trial on charges of raping a Washington state woman.
Defense attorney Steve Graham said his client, Waclaw Kieltyka, was ordered released on Monday by Spokane County Superior Court Judge Julie McKay. The other three members of Decapitated - Michal Lysejko, Rafal Piotrowski and Hubert Wiecek - were released Nov. 22.
All four were released on their own recognizance, without bail. All have pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping and rape.
The Spokesman-Review says the judge ordered the men to remain in Washington. Earlier they had been ordered to turn in their passports.
A trial originally scheduled for Dec.

EVERETT, Wash. (AP) — This is the lesson that the working-class city of Everett has learned: It takes a community to rescue the hardcore homeless.
It takes teams of outreach workers — building relationships with men and women struggling with addiction or untreated mental illness, prodding them to get help. It takes police and other agencies, working together to provide for their needs.
Everett, hard-hit by the opioid epidemic, is trying an array of strategies to tackle homelessness, addiction, untreated mental illness and other problems on its streets.
For starters, the city put together a team that would track the 25 most costly and vulnerable cases, and hover over each one individually until he or she was in treatment or housing.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — The Seattle Mariners have landed two pitchers in a pair of trades in exchange for some of the international slot money the club had acquired in the hopes of landing Shohei Ohtani.
The Mariners got right-hander Shawn Armstrong from Cleveland on Wednesday and picked up minor-league lefty Anthony Misiewicz from Tampa Bay. Misiewicz was previously in the Mariners organization before being dealt to Tampa Bay last season.
Armstrong is the most likely to help Seattle immediately. The 27-year-old made 21 relief appearances for Cleveland last season and posted a 4.38 ERA in 24 2/3 innings. Armstrong also had brief stints with the Indians in the 2015 and 2016 seasons.

FEDERAL WAY, Wash. (AP) — Authorities say two teens were shot and seriously injured near the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way.
The shooter or shooters fled the scene and remain at large.
KOMO reports the incident unfolded at about 9:40 a.m. Wednesday when two 17-year-old boys went to meet with someone in the back parking lot area of the aquatic center. An altercation ensued and the two teens were shot.
Police responded and found the two victims with gunshot wounds. They were taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle in serious condition.
Authorities say the victims are known to police and the shooting was not a random incident.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A Spokane, Washington, man was sentenced to seven years in prison and 25 years under the supervision of the Oregon Psychiatry Security Review Board for a crash that killed three people last year.
The Oregonian/OregonLive reports 32-year-old Nathan James Verhaeghe was sentenced last week after he pleaded guilty in October to first-degree assault and three counts of second-degree manslaughter.
The prison sentence accounts for the assault while the mental health portion is for the deaths.
Authorities say Verhaeghe was driving his car at 105 mph (170 kph) in northern Oregon when he crashed into the back of a Toyota Matrix. The wreck caused the Matrix to collide head-on with a van.

RENTON, Wash. (AP) — With concerns about depth at linebacker, the Seattle Seahawks have promoted linebacker Paul Dawson off their practice squad and placed offensive lineman Oday Aboushi on injured reserve.
The Seahawks made the roster moves Wednesday before beginning preparations for Sunday's NFC West matchup against the Los Angeles Rams. Seattle is uncertain of the status of linebackers Bobby Wagner (hamstring) and K.J. Wright (concussion).
Dawson was a third-round pick of the Bengals in 2015. He played 13 games in his first two seasons before signing on to Seattle's practice squad in November.
Aboushi started eight games for Seattle at right guard before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury in Week 11 against Atlanta.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A federal judge in Anchorage, Alaska, has sentenced a 56-year-old Washington state man to 10 years in prison for defrauding Alaskans out of $2.7 million.
Floyd Mann, Jr., of Puyallup (pew-AL'-up) was convicted in July of 11 wire fraud counts and eight money laundering counts.
Judge Timothy Burgess called Mann a "dogged, determined, charlatan" who caused permanent financial and emotional damage to dozens of people.
Mann told victims in Dillingham and elsewhere that he'd won a multimillion-dollar settlement from a class-action lawsuit with a pharmaceutical company.
He promised victims large returns if they paid his medical bills and expenses related to the lawsuit.

FORT STEWART, Ga. (AP) — An Army soldier has died from severe injuries he suffered during "live fire" training at Fort Stewart.
Officials at the Army post in southeast Georgia said in a news release that 31-year-old Sgt. Michael Trask of Olalla, Washington, died Tuesday at a hospital in nearby Savannah.
Trask was in critical condition when he was hospitalized Dec. 6 after being hurt during a nighttime training exercise in which soldiers fired weapons using live ammunition.
Fort Stewart spokesman Kevin Larson declined to comment Wednesday on how Trask got injured, citing an open Army investigation.
Trask was an infantry soldier assigned to the Army's 3rd Infantry Division.

NEW YORK (AP) — T-Mobile is launching a TV service next year, becoming the latest company to marry wireless and video.
The service will target people who aren't interested in traditional cable and satellite TV packages. T-Mobile promises to address consumer complaints such as "sky-high bills" and "exploding bundles." The company wouldn't provide details on its upcoming offering, including how it would differ from existing online TV alternatives from Hulu, YouTube, Sony, AT&T and Dish.
The nation's No. 3 wireless carrier said Wednesday that it bought cable-TV startup Layer3 TV to help it roll out the service. T-Mobile didn't disclose how much it paid for Layer3, which is available in five U.S. cities.